Studying the Archaeological Resources of Mormon Nauvoo 161 Challenges and Triumphs of Ground-Penetrating Radar for Studying the Archaeological Resources of Mormon Nauvoo John H. McBride, Benjamin C. Pykles, Ryan W. Saltzgiver, Chelsea Richard, and R. William Keach II Nauvoo, Illinois, sits astride a small promontory of land that appears to jut westward into the Mississippi River, reclaiming a formerly swampy area, locally known as “the flats.” The flats rise to about 30 feet (9 meters) above the river level, sloping gently upward to “the bluff,” from which point the prairie JOHN H. MCBRI D E (
[email protected]) is a professor in the Department of Geological Sciences at Brigham Young University. He received a PhD from Cornell University and has an interest in applying geophysical techniques to the study of Mormon historical sites. BEN ja MIN C. PYKLES (
[email protected]) is a curator of historic sites for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He received a PhD in anthropology with an emphasis in historical archaeology from the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of Excavating Nauvoo: The Mormons and the Rise of Historical Archaeology in America (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2010), and has researched and conducted field work in Nauvoo over the past decade. RY A N W. SA LTZ G IVER (
[email protected]) is an MA candidate in anthropology at Brigham Young University. His research focuses on the archaeology of early Mormon historical sites. CHELSE A RICH A R D (
[email protected]) is currently a geoarchaeologist in the greater New York City area.